COURSE SYLLABUS:

AFRAM 1: Intro to African American Studies (3 Units)

Dual Enrollment Course Laney College of the Peralta Community College District and Madison Park Academy of the Oakland Unified School District

Laney & OUSD Instructional Staff:

Professor: Kimberly Ross/kross@peralta.edu

Madison Park Academy Teacher of Record: Ms. Chelsea Slater/ chelsea.slater@ousd.org

Course Dates and Weekly Schedule:

August 21^st-December 15^th 2017

(in accordance with Peralta Academic

Calendar; ends sooner than OUSD academic calendar)

Monday & Thursday 1:50-3:10 PM

Madison Park Academy Room 33/ Office Hour 12:30-1:30 PM Wednesdays

Laney College/ Peralta & OUSD Holidays:

Sept 4th Labor Day (both)

Nov 10th Veteran’s Day (both)

Nov 23-26 Thanksgiving (Peralta)

Nov 20-24 Thanksgiving (OUSD)

Course Description:

Overview of the field of African American Studies: History, literature, the arts and material culture, as well as sociological, political, economic, public policy, and philosophical perspectives on the experience of people of African descent in the United States.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this class, students will be able to do the following:

1. Identify the central figures, movements, and events that have shaped the African American experience.

2. Analyze contemporary issues of concern within the African American community from an historical perspective.

3. Synthesize the historiography of African American political, economic, and social life.

4.Articulate and defend views in a collegial and convincing manner.

Text Books:

1. Assata: An Autobiography, By Angela Davis

2. Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present, By Nell Painter

3. *supplemental materials will be provided

Course Requirements, Assignments, and Grading Scale:

Midterm Exam- 30%

Synthesis Papers - 20%

Discussion & In-class Participation- 10%

Critical Essay- 40%

Participation and attendance This should be self-explanatory, but I expect you to attend class and participate regularly. Class discussion of historical events, “actors”, and ideas is an important part of this course and everyone is encouraged and expected to participate. Failure to do so will adversely affect your grade. You must complete the assigned readings before class. Participatory assignments will be required.

Participation also includes: discussions in-class activities/ group or individual— and overall class engagement (See In-Class Activities Below)

In-Class Activities: Activities such as: group work and short presentations, including the Culture & Race Radio Reports—7-minute reports on selected topics from radio documentaries from the National Radio Project, KPFA, and Youth Radio archives; students will report back on local and national issues and critically link the shows as current events with content from class (both historical and contemporary topics). Links and will be provided.

Midterm Exam: Will Consist of Short Essay Questions.

Class and School Policies:

Cell phones--only for educational purposes. The class observes Madison Academy’s attendance and uniform policy, please see handbook.

Weekly Synthesis Papers:

Papers should (1) draw key ideas from the week’s readings focusing on several themes (i.e. labor, race, social movements, global patriarchy, racial violence (specific topics connected to the reading selections) and relate them to previous class readings and commentary throughout the course. (2) Explain what you found interesting and how you could connect the topic with a current event. (3) Identify three or four questions for class discussion at the bottom of your synthesis paper. Papers should not be a whole summary of the material but rather integrate ideas to reflect your original thoughts as they connect with the reading selections. Papers should be 2 pages double-spaced. DUE EVERY MONDAY.

Critical Essay:

Due on the last day of class, a 5-8-page essay exploring an argument or one of the topics or themes presented in the course, supported by outside readings. Papers should be in Times New Roman Font, 12 Point/ Double-Spaced, with a title and bibliography.

CLASS READING/WRITING SCHEDULE

WEEK 1

Monday 8/21- Course Introduction/ Semester at a Glance:

· Course Policies and Procedures

· Reading Schedule Week I

· Defining Academic Terms

· How to Engage Critically with the text

· What is Theory? How is it shaped and who shapes it?

· Corrective History Projects and Black Studies

Thursday 8/24:

Section 1 – The Origins of American Slavery

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 2 Captives Transported

· Continued from Last Class (?) What is Theory? How is it shaped and who shapes it? Corrective History Projects and Black Studies

· Lecture: Historical Overview:

· African roots, Transatlantic Slave trade, Slavery and Imperial Wealth, Impact on Black people holistically

· Key Historical Figures

· Key Theories

WEEK 2

Monday 8/28- Slavery & The Creation of Race:

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 4, Those Who Were Free

· Racial Theories of Inferiority

· One Drop and Passing

· Colorism

· Internalized Racism (Fanon, Du Bois)

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

Thursday 8/31- Slavery and Gender:

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

· Racial theories based on gender

· Family structure

· Treatment of Black Women

· Black Feminism, Intersectionality, and The Matrix of Domination

WEEK 3

MONDAY 9/4 Labor Day Holiday

THURSDAY 9/7:

Section-2 Civil War and Emancipation

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 6 Civil War and Emancipation

· Lecture: Historical Overview, Civil War timeline

· Key Historical Black Figures (Harriet Tubman, etc.)

· Socio-historical/political Changes in the Black Family and Gender

· The Klu Klux Klan and Racial Violence

WEEK 4

MONDAY 9/11 Jim Crow & The Colorline

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 8 Hard Working People in the Depths of Segregation

· The Birth of Jim Crow

· Ida B. Wells and the Anti-Lynching Campaign

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 9/14 Black Educational Institutions

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

· HBCU’s

· Historical Debates about Black Education

· Black Political and/or Liberal Arts Education

· Key Historical Figures: Carter G. Woodson, Booker T. Washington,

and WEB Du Bois

WEEK 5

MONDAY 9/18: Jim Crow and Black Cultural Institutions

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

· Lecture: Fraternal Organizations and Ladies Clubs

· Black Greek Life: Fraternities and Sororities

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

Thursday 9/21:

Section 3- The Harlem Renaissance

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 9, The New Negro

• Migrating North/ Statistics

• WWI: Black Military Bands/ Exposure to African Diaspora/ Black Internationalism

• Black Political Thought (Influences and New Characteristics)

• Pan Africanism

• Black Newspapers/Journalism- Content, Impact, and Examples

WEEK 6 (START CULTURE & RACE RADIO REPORTS)

MONDAY 9/25 Black American Cities

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

• “Redlining” (1930’s)

• Urban expansion and White Flight (1950s-60s)

• Poverty and Controlling Images

• Police Violence

• Oakland, California

• Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 9/28-Section 4- Civil Rights and Black Power:

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 13, Protest Makes a Civil Rights Revolution

Assata (Chapters TBD)

· Integrationist vs. Segregationist ideologies in the Black Community

· Martin and Malcolm

· Black Militancy/Radicalization

· Radio Reports

WEEK 7

MONDAY 10/2 Black Power

Required Reading:

Painter, Chapter 4, Black Power

Assata (Chapters TBD)

· Black Power Ideology

· Black is Beautiful and Afrocentricity

· Black Diasporic Visions/Pan Africanism Revisited

· Prepare for Midterm

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 10/5 The Black Arts Movement

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

Assata (Chapters TBD)

· Spoken Word

· Black Arts Productions

· Radio Reports

WEEK 8

MONDAY 10/9 Review

· Review for Exam

· Group Activity

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 10/12

MIDTERM EXAM (Short Essay Questions)

WEEK 9

MONDAY 10/16-

Section 5- 1970s Contemporary African American Thought

Required Reading:

Hip Hop Multi Media

Painter, Chapter 15, Authenticity and Diversity in the Era of Hip Hop

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 10/19- 1970’s Socio-Political Concerns

Required Reading:

Jeff Chang Article(s)

Hip Hop Feminism

· Hip Hop Documentary

· Expression and Lyrics

· Radio Reports

WEEK 10

MONDAY 10/23 1970s Prison Industrial Complex

Required Reading:

Supplemental Readings

Angela Davis

· Impact of Drug distribution into Black Communities

· School to Prison Pipeline

· Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy

· 1970s Stats

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

10/26 Section 6- 1980s Contemporary African American Thought

Required Reading:

Supplemental Readings

Angela Davis

Prison Industrial Complex

· Impact of Drug distribution into Black Communities

· School to Prison Pipeline

· Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy

· Evolution of Hip Hop

· Radio Reports

WEEK 11

MONDAY 10/30 1980s Prison Industrial Complex

Required Reading:

Supplemental Readings

Angela Davis

· Impact of Drug distribution into Black Communities

· School to Prison Pipeline

· Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy

· 1980s Stats

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 11/2 Media Representations in the Black Community

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

· The deserving and undeserving poor

· Criminalizing the poor

· The Moynihan Report

· On Screen- Sitcoms from Good times to Cosby

· Radio Reports

WEEK 12

Section 7- 1990s Contemporary African American Thought

MONDAY 11/6 African American Students

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading

Excerpts from: Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity, by Beverly Daniel Tatum

· Education/ Why Schools Fail Black Youth

· Ebonics

· Black Girls and Non-Verbal Language

· Criminalization of Black Youth

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

11/9 Race and Gender I

Required Reading:

Excerpts From: But Some Of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men

· How Race is Gendered

· Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas

· Crenshaw’s Intersectionality

· Radio Reports

WEEK 13

2000’s Contemporary African American Thought

MONDAY 11/13 Race and Gender II

Required Reading:

Excerpts from: The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality on Black Communities. By, Delroy Constantine-Simms (2001)

Supplemental Reading

· AIDS in the Black Community

· Still Taboo? Black and the LGBTQ Community

· Black Trans Experiences

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

THURSDAY 11/16 Race and Gender III

Required Reading:

Excerpts from The Sistah Vegan Project

Supplemental Reading

· Environmental Racism

· Food Justice and Black Lives Matter

· Black Women and The Environment

· Black Women’s Health and Wellness

· Radio Reports

· Critical Essays Assigned

WEEK 14

THANKSGIVING BREAK (All Week)

WEEK 15

Monday 11/ 27 Black Social Media Spaces I

Required Reading:

“Is Twitter the Underground Railroad of Activism?” Salon. Feminista Jones.

· Black Twitter

· #StayWoke Doc (Part I)

· Black Lives Matter/ From Oakland to Ferguson

· Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

Thursday 11/30 Black Social Media Spaces II

Required Reading:

“The Truth About Black Twitter,” The Atlantic. By: DONOVAN X. RAMSEY

· Discussion

· #StayWoke Doc (Part II)

· Radio Reports

WEEK 16

MONDAY 12/4- Black Futurism I

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading and Multi-Media

· Short films

· Music

· Science fiction

· LAST: Weekly Synthesis Paper Due

12/7- Black Futurism II

Required Reading:

Supplemental Reading and Multi-Media

· Race and Futurism

· Changing Demographics

· Race in America

· Changing Notions of Blackness

· LAST: Radio Report

WEEK 17- Critical Essays

12/11- Peer Editing

12/ 14 Peer Editing

Critical Essays Due on December 15^th

*SEMESTER END